The meadows, deep
by TheRedEyedRaven
Summary: An ancient prisoner escapes after three-thousand years of captivity, six friends are given a task to perform, a princess could lose something dear to her and a tuba is dented.
1. Chapter 1 : The Escape

Far away in a cold, dank dungeon, in the strongest maximum security prison ever built in the land, the light was slowly fading, and the darkness was closing in. The cell was unmarked and no clue as to what it contained could be seen from the outside. It had never been opened for any reason, not even to feed what was held inside. Not even the elite, specially trained guards knew what or who was being held prisoner therein. They had their orders:

"Never open it. Never talk about it. Never leave your post until the end of your shift."

That was all they knew. For more than 3000 years the cell had not shown any signs of life, but the prisoner had started stirring. The guards on duty, however, didn't notice anything. That is until one dreary, midnight shift when something like black ink starting silently oozing out from under the door of the cell, twisting into long strands and coils. The guards didn't even have time to think what to do before they had been bound and gagged by the dark mass of coils that was, by that time already strong enough to break down the magical, solid stone door of the cell, without the need for tools or weapons.

The air was humid and the bricks in the dungeon, slippery. The cell door now lay in a crumpled heap, brushed to one side as if it were nothing more than a bothersome leaf on a clean swept sidewalk. As the younger of the two guards struggled to free himself, the other turned to see the ooze retreating back into the now open cell. His eyes widened as the prisoner bounded over the threshold of the cell, twitched, cocked his head to one side and, in a flutter of black feathers, flew up the spiral staircase, out of the guard's sight and into a freedom he had dreamed of for more than 3000 years.

The evening was still fresh and the air, cool. The moon was rising and the stars were already shedding their light in the hazy night. He felt the rush of the wind against his face and the dizzying sensation of weightlessness that comes with the ability to fly.

He soared for what felt to him like ages, swooping through forests and under clouds, over mountains and between trees. He grinned to himself: he hadn't lost his skill at flying, even after being locked away for 3000 years. This train of thought dampened his spirits, made him angry and scared and sad all at the same time. Slightly confused by all these intense emotions, he landed in a nearby tree, and composed himself. He concentrated, getting his bearings, and started on his plan to get what was his, and have his revenge on those who had treated him so badly that he felt no words could ever describe his anger, frustration and pain.

As the sun was rising above the horizon, heralding the arrival of another day, he went through his plan once more, mentally preparing himself for what he knew he had to do, and what was to come. He had waited so long. Now the wait was over…


	2. Chapter 2 : The Call to the Palace

In ponyville, things were getting serious. Twilight was in the Carousel Boutique helping Rarity, who was very busy working on an important order of new designer dresses, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who had also agreed to come along, were standing in one corner, immobile, having a staring competition to determine which one of them had the most endurance.

"Come on, you two…" Twilight sighed as Applejack gave an involuntary twitch "…you both agreed to help Rarity with this order, but you haven't done anything since we got here but argue and stare at each other…" She turned away, looking at the rest of the boutique

"…not to mention that you knocked over half of Rarity's mannequins while running that 'endurance race' you set up throughout the boutique to test each other"

"Lighten up, Twilight" Rainbow Dash said

"…and we put the mannequins back where they were afterwards, didn't we?" Twilight sighed again, and rolled her eyes; some ponies just never change.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity screamed

"Sweetie Belle, where are you? You were supposed to bring me that light yellow satin material half an hour ago! Oh… Where IS she?" Rarity's voice was gaining a hysterical edge.

"I'm sure she's on her way." Twilight reassured her friend.

"See, here she is!" Two seconds later the young filly walked through the door dragging a roll of a soft and shiny, yellow material.

"Oh I knew you'd get it for me!" Rarity said to her sister

"Thank you, Sweetie Belle; I don't know what I'd do without you!" Rarity's demeanour had immediately become lighter. Her sister, on the other hand, looked a bit irritated.

"If I weren't here, you'd probably do some work yourself for a change." She grumbled.

"Sorry, what was that, Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked, although she was too absorbed in the measurements she was making at that moment to really listen.

"Nothing" Sweetie Belle quickly blurted out, putting on her best smile. "Do you need anything else?"

"Not right now, Sweetie Belle. Thank you for your help." Rarity replied as she carefully put the measuring tape on the table.

The work was long and hard, and it didn't help that Rainbow Dash insisted that, to make up for lost time, she would help Rarity with the designs, trying to make the dresses cooler, adding unnecessary bits and colours to the designs. Despite these setbacks, they had made quite a bit of progress.

They had just started working on the fourth dress when Spike burst through the door of the boutique and ran straight into Twilight, who was holding some material up for Rarity to inspect.

The confusion that reigned thereafter was short but painful: Twilight yelped, lost her balance and fell over, losing her magical grip on the material, it fell over Rarity, neatly covering her like a blanket, who ran, screaming and confused, right into Applejack, who was trying, with the help of a laughing Rainbow Dash, to get Twilight back upright again. They landed together in a tangled heap. They looked at each other and shared a moment of laughter.

"What in Equestria is the big rush, Spike?" Applejack asked Spike after they had all gotten back up again.

"Princess Celestia sent you an urgent letter, Twilight. I brought it here as fast as I could."

Twilight's face had immediately become serious when Spike had said "…urgent…" She grabbed the letter, opening it magically so that her friends could also see it.

"My dearest Twilight Sparkle…" she read aloud "…I have an urgent task for you and your friends. Please board the next train and meet me in Canterlot. We have a problem that will require your combined abilities and skills. Yours faithfully, Princess Celestia."

The group of friends looked at each other, worried expressions on their faces. Twilight was the first to break the silence:

"We're going to Canterlot. Rainbow Dash, can you and Applejack find Fluttershy for us, while Rarity and I get Pinkie Pie?"

"I'm already there, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash replied.

"We'll find her, Twilight, don't you worry." Applejack agreed

"Meet us at the train station, ok?" Twilight said as her friends zipped out the door of the boutique, and Rainbow Dash jumped into the air, and both of them headed in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage.

She turned to Rarity. "Do you know where we could find Pinkie Pie?"

Rarity furrowed her brow in thought. "I think she said that she was going to be busy baking with Gummy all day again. That's why she couldn't come help me here."

And so they set out to find Pinkie.

A few minutes of explaining later, Twilight, Rarity and an overexcited Pinkie Pie finally reached the train station. "Where have you BEEN? We've been waiting here for, like, ever!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed when she caught sight of the three ponies running to the train station.

"We're sorry, we had to explain what's going on to Pinkie Pie and she got kind of excited…" Twilight said.

"Ooooh! What do you think the Princess wants us to do?" Pinkie Pie giggled as the group moved onto the waiting train. "I bet she needs us to plan her a PARTY!"

"Pinkie" Applejack said, exasperated already. "Her letter says that it's urgent. Why in Equestria would the Celestia need us to plan her a party?"

"Maybe it's an URGENT party! Like an ultra-urgent-super-surprise party! I've never thrown one of those before."

"But Pinkie…" Applejack tried to reason with Pinkie Pie, but she was cut off when Pinkie gasped, suddenly a serious frown upon her face. "I've forgotten the party goods!" She screeched "We're going to need confetti and candy and balloons and…."

"Pinkie Pie!" The friends shouted in chorus.

"Sorry." She blushed and smiled at her friends.

The train chugged on and on, passing trees, fields, rivers and lakes. Now lit by the moon, they looked strange and exotic, like shapes and colours they had never seen before.

The group of six ponies and one dragon were slowly falling asleep on their seats, yet each one wondering what this meeting with Princess Celestia would hold in store for them, what challenges awaited them when they finally got to the palace.

Little did they know that the reason they had been called up to the palace was, at that moment, finding himself a nice place to sleep, in the branches of a tree just outside a small town called Ponyville.


	3. Chapter 3 : Celestia's Meeting

The train arrived at Canterlot and the group hurried to the palace. There they were halted by two guards. "What business do you have here? The Princess is awaiting several guests and has made it clear that she does not wish to be disturbed." His tone was firm and formal, and his look was daunting, but Twilight stepped forward nonetheless

"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends, we have been invited here by Princess Celestia." She spoke up, obviously not comfortable with having to use her status as a Princess of Equestria to gain entrance, but being obligated to do so. The guard apologized, for his behaviour, and allowed them to move through the large, golden double doors. "Just doing my job" he said as he shut the doors behind them again.

Celestia greeted them all politely and they all sat down at a table in the middle of the room, surrounded by bright, colourful décor and vibrant stained glass windows. There was food and drink at the table, set up in an organized, yet informal meal. They thanked the Princess for her generosity, and the meeting began.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice." Celestia smiled at her guests, and then her expression became formal. "We have an important subject to discuss…"

"Please be a party. Please be a party. Ohhhhh…. Please." Pinkie Pie could barely contain her excitement.

"I am afraid that I haven't invited you here to arrange a party. I have invited you here to help catch a prisoner."

The group of friends were now silent, serious, and intent on hearing more about their unexpected task. Celestia proceeded to give them all the information that they had available regarding this task:

"Last night a top security prison, so secret that not even I knew of its existence, was breached. The prison was built approximately three-thousand years ago and was built to imprison a single entity. The prison cell itself, guarded by the most highly skilled and trained guards, and by some of the most advanced magic an Alicorn can learn to use, was found broken open from the inside. The two guards on duty were found nearby, unharmed but bound by a strange, powerful and dark magic."

She paused to catch her breath, and then continued

"One of these two guards is here, and will describe the prisoner to you shortly, and will answer any questions you have regarding this prisoner, to the best of his ability."

Celestia got up from the table and left the room, returning a few minutes later accompanied by a guard in strange armour. She bade him sit down, but he declined, saying that he preferred to stand. "Please describe the prisoner to the recapture team" Celestia said.

The guard was nervous and looked a bit pale, but he did as he was told, although he was stammering badly. "He… uhh… It… looked like… a bird. It was… a bird with… feathers as… as black as night. It was about as tall… as my knee. He… Sorry, it, just sort of jumped or whatever that thing that birds do is called…"

"You mean 'hopping'?" Fluttershy asked in her timid voice

"Oh, yeah… Hopping. Well it hopped through the… umm… doorway and it… Oh Equestria, I've never been so scared in all my life... It looked at me."

Rainbow Dash laughed out loud, interrupting the nervous guard, and making Twilight scowl at her.

"Waitwaitwait. You were soo-oooo scared of this bird because it looked at you? That's hilarious!"

"Now, Rainbow Dash! Let the poor pony talk! He might have a good reason for being scared…" Applejack interjected.

"You did have a good reason, right?" she asked the guard, suddenly sounding unsure.

"I… Yes… well… It looked at me, but…" The guard paused, sweating.

"Yes?" Twilight asked, curious as to what could scare an elite guard.

"It looked at me… I could… feel it. But it… it had no eye… in the socket. Nothing but a dark, empty hole." The guard shuddered. "I could… see the thing's skull, sticking out from under the black feathers. There were… oh, it was ter… terrible… there were… bits… missing from it… a chunk on its chest… a piece of its leg… It… should be dead."

Rainbow Dash's laughter had stopped "Ok, now that's scary!" she said. Twilight looked confused.

"Surely you'd seen the prisoner before that? I mean, you had to open the cell to feed it or something, at some point… Didn't you?"

The guard shook his trembling head. "No. We… never opened it. We never touched it. We weren't… weren't even allowed to speak about it before the escape. I've… never seen it… before. The daily logs… of the Head guard are… well, they're handed down each year. That cell hasn't been opened since it was built… three-thousand years ago." The guard was calmer now, but still shaking.

Celestia allowed him to leave, and then turned to her guests. "That is not the only information we have regarding the prisoner. I did some research of my own, and I found something that you should find quite useful."

Twilight and her friends listened intently.

"In the past, there have been other Princesses to rule over Equestria. I searched through records and books and found the official log of the Princess who was ruling Equestria three-thousand years ago."

Twilight leaned closer to Princess Celestia, riveted by the thought of a mystery stretching so far back in time that even Celestia had to do research on it.

"Three-thousand years ago, Princess Sunset Spirit ruled Equestria. She was fair and just, and she cared for the welfare of her people. In her twenty-fourth year of ruling she reported, in her logs, that many farmers around Equestria were complaining of a species of bird harassing them, stealing their crops and land, and terrorizing the nearby villages. She then decreed that these pests, called 'Shadow-Ravens' should be ousted from the land, and their homes in the trees along the edges of the Everfree Forest be cut down."

"It was more than a year after this entry that she recorded that the struggle against the Shadow-Ravens and their powerful magic was at a close and that the last surviving Shadow-Raven would be kept prisoner in a secret, magically enhanced, maximum security cell, guarded at all times."

Celestia finished her story, and looked up at the young ponies who sat before her.

"Do any of you have any questions?" Celestia asked, looking around the table.

"Yes" Twilight spoke up, sounding puzzled. "Why didn't Princess Sunset Spirit simply banish the last Shadow-Raven to Tartarus?"

"We do not know for sure, but she does mention in her log that Tartarus was not a "...harsh enough punishment, or strong enough prison…" for the last Shadow-Raven." Celestia replied gravely.

"Now you know a little more about what you are up against." She said, and with that the meeting ended.


	4. Chapter 4 : Nightmares and Laughter

Celestia gave them each a room in the palace to stay in for the night, which of course they were all happy to accept, especially Rarity ("Such style! Such class!").

They all tried to sleep, but one by one ended up wandering sleeplessly down to the main living room, where a warm fire was always kept burning in the fireplace, and some comfortable chairs were always to be found. Even Spike was unable sleep, so they all sat in a semi-circle arranged at a nice distance from the fire.

"I guess you can't sleep either, huh?" asked Twilight.

The others all shook their heads.

"I dozed off at one point, but then I dreamt… i-.. It doesn't matter"

"What did you see, Fluttershy?"

"I saw… the Shadow-Raven" Fluttershy said. "It was so scary, and I just couldn't take it."

"I think we're all a little spooked out after that story." Applejack said and the group gave a murmur of agreement.

"What I want to know is what this Shadow-Raven plans to do now that he's escaped." Rarity stated.

"Yeah! What would YOU do if you were a weird, ancient, imprisoned bird with strange powers who had just busted outta jail?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Pinkie Pie laughed a bit "I know what I would do! I would throw the biggest and best-est 'Welcome-out-of-jail' party ever!" The group laughed, and to keep themselves distracted through the long night, they talked about what food they would serve at their 'Welcome-out-of-jail' party.


	5. Chapter 5 : A plan to catch it

The next morning, six ponies and a small dragon were all fast asleep in the main living room when a guard burst through the door.

"Your Highness! Princess Twilight Sparkle!" He shouted as he ran to Twilight, who awoke rather slowly, and wasn't pleased at being woken. "Huh? Oh, what is it?" she mumbled, still half asleep.

"Princess Celestia has requested that I help you with your luggage, as your train leaves in five minutes, Princess."

"Oh... Still five minutes? That's fine…. Just… let… me… hmmmm…." Twilight snuggled back down and closed her eyes. "We… just… have to… be… OH EQUESTRIA!" Her eyes sprang open, and she jumped up onto her legs, whacking Spike in the face with her tail in the process. "Come on girls we have to get ready! Our train leaves in five minutes!"

With the help of the guard, and some sprinting, they made it to the train on time, along with all the Shadow-Raven-capturing supplies that Celestia had sent with them.

While on the train back to Ponyville, which is where they had decided to start their search, Twilight came across some powerful trapping spells in a book she was reading, and Applejack found some useful objects, including a large, golden birdcage.

"Alright girls, we need a plan to catch the Raven when we finally find it, and it has to be a good plan. Princess Celestia is counting on us to bring back that Shadow-Raven!" Twilight announced, allowing her words time to sink in before grinning

"And I have just the thing…"


	6. Chapter 6 : The ridiculous plan

"This plan is ridiculous!"

Rainbow Dash exclaimed. It was the next day, and they had all had time to catch up on some sleep. Twilight had brought them to a large, open field not far from the edges of the Everfree Forest. There, with nothing to distract them and nothing to get in their way, she had hoped to teach each of her friends what their role was in the plan.

"It's simple." She had started off by saying. "When we find the Shadow-Raven, Applejack will lasso it, and with the help of Pinkie Pie, you'll pull it into the cage that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will carry to you. Then Rarity will close the cage door, and lock it."

"And what will YOU be doing while Fluttershy and I lug a ten ton golden birdcage everywhere we go?" Rainbow Dash had asked, rather annoyed.

"When you get the Shadow-Raven into the cage, I will enchant the cage with the Trapping spell I found in 'Advanced and ancient magic'." She replied.

"Couldn't you just enchant it now?" Rainbow asked, exasperated.

"No, the book clearly says that the thing you want trapped has to be inside when you perform the spell."

"That's just great!" Rainbow said, rolling her eyes.

"Ok, so is everypony ready? That stone I put on the third branch from the top is the Shadow-Raven. One, Two, Three, GO!"


	7. Chapter 7 : Written by the victors

The first attempt was a complete failure, ending somehow with Fluttershy inside the cage instead of the stone. The second and third attempts went better, but by the fourth attempt, they were all a little fed up with the plan.

"No" Twilight tried to explain to Rainbow Dash "You can't just use your hooves to pick up the stone and put it into the cage, when we're up against the real Shadow-Raven, it isn't going to just let you pick it up, is it?"

An argument was about to break out amongst the six ponies when a strange voice spoke up from the nearby tree.

"Oh, bravo! Encore! Is this the plan to capture the elusive Shadow-Raven?"

The six ponies stood in silence, searching the tree for the source of the voice.

"And, might I ask that you refer to me by my name when speaking of me? It's only polite, and it is such a nice name."

The voice was deep and sounded as if the speaker was at the bottom of a deep well, the words echoing up out of a darkness unfathomable.

"Uhh… Ok." Applejack was the first to speak up "What's your name?"

She asked the disembodied voice.

"Ah, finally somepony polite enough to ask. My name is simply Raven. Not 'the Raven' or 'Mr Raven' or 'it', as most of you have been calling me. Just Raven."

And with that said, Raven appeared, as if out of mist and shadow, sitting on the branch where Twilight had originally put the stone to represent him. He bowed to them, and then reclined against the trunk of the tree, watching them.

Twilight frowned. "Is that him? Is that… the Shadow-Raven?" she whispered to her friends.

"It's rude to whisper about others, whether they can hear you or not." Raven's voice came from behind Twilight, causing the group to jump. And there, perched on Twilight's back, was Raven. Twilight didn't recall feeling anything on her back, but there he was, acting as if this was a perfectly natural and normal situation. She looked back to where he had been reclining only moments before, but he had most definitely moved.

"I'm sorry…" he frowned. "You're probably not comfortable with me perching here on your back." He flapped his inky wings and landed in front of the group, and studied them each one in turn.

First he hopped over to Rarity, turning his head to one side to look at her more closely. Rarity was horrified to see that what the nervous guard had told them, about the horrible disfigurements and injuries, was true. There where his eye should have been, there was a simply a hole, and his chest sported many jutting bones and even a horrible gash through which you should have been able to see inside him but was, thankfully, shrouded in shadow.

He then moved on to take a closer look at Rainbow Dash. He was especially fond of her mane, and kept asking her if that was her natural hair colour. ("For the SEVENTH time, NO I didn't dye my mane like this!")

Applejack's hat seemed to amuse him, as he lifted it up off her head using a shadowy magic to manipulate it. "Hey! Gimme that back!" she said in protest as he removed it from her head. "Oh, I'm sorry." He said, with what looked like a sly grin. He placed it back on her head, and flew on.

Fluttershy shrank back from him as he came closer. He stopped, and landed a distance in front of her. There he paused, before taking a few steps closer, to which she responded by moving a little further away. He sighed. "I scare you, don't I?" Fluttershy didn't answer him. He hung his head. "Very well then. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." And moved on.

Pinkie Pie didn't shrink back or move away, but Raven had a hard time getting her to stand still. "Are you always this… bouncy?" he asked her, frowning.

Finally he got to Twilight Sparkle. He circled around her a few times, and stopped in front of her. He was still inspecting her when she asked him "I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing?" Raven paused, looked at her and replied "I am trying to get to know you better."

He then asked them something they weren't expecting.

"Tell me, young ones, do you believe me to be evil?"

Twilight didn't know whether he really wanted an answer or whether he was simply stalling, but before she could think of something to do, Rainbow Dash spoke up.

"Yeah! Of course we do! We've been told about what the Shadow-Ravens did three-thousand years ago. You stole ponies' crops and attacked their villages!"

Raven sighed, a long and heavy sigh of someone carrying a heavy burden.

"'History is written by the victors.'" He looked up and, seeing the confused looks he was receiving, he tried to explain. "'History is written by the victors.'… You know… Churchill. Winston Chur- oh never mind, I forgot, you wouldn't know him anyway. My point is that the shadow-ravens didn't start the conflict that happened all those millennia ago, but of course you would rather believe your history books than what the vanquished enemy has to say."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"Of cooouuurse they didn't." She said, sarcastically.

It took Twilight a while to realize that her friend was keeping Raven talking, giving the others time to act.

"Now, girls!" She shouted and, with surprising efficiency, the ponies jumped into action. Applejack lassoed Raven and tied the ropes tight; Pinkie Pie flung him, struggling, into the air, where Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash caught him with the cage. Rarity quickly used her magic to close and lock the cage door, and Twilight did the fastest bit of enchanting she had ever performed.


	8. Chapter 8 : Captured

The cage glowed with a soft, yellow light, and inside the shadowy figure of a black bird struggled to free himself.

"No! I don't want to go back to the cell! Please don't take me back!" He pleaded with the ponies now carrying him away in the birdcage.

"You don't know what it's like! Being locked away for three-thousand years! You have no idea what it does to you! I just wanted to talk… To have contact with anything living! Please!"

Of all of them, only Pinkie Pie seemed unperturbed by the racket Raven was making.

"Will you please be quiet?!" Rainbow Dash cracked before they had even got half-way to the train station. "We aren't taking you back to that cell. You broke it down, remember?" She added testily.

"Oh…" Raven replied, looking slightly confused, and yet relieved enough at the same time. "Alright then. Where…. are you taking me then?" Raven asked tentatively.

Twilight answered him "We're taking you to see the Princess of Equestria."

Raven coughed. He leaned closer to Pinkie Pie, who was walking close by, put his wing up to one side of his beak as if in confidentiality and whispered "Is she a bit…. you know… crazy?"

Pinkie Pie looked at Raven with big scared eyes and said in a really loud whisper "YEAH! She's totally crazy! You should have run when you had the chance!"

"Hey! I am not crazy!" Twilight replied in an annoyed tone of voice.

Rainbow Dash laughed "Yeah you are… sometimes."

Everypony laughed at this remark, even Twilight herself. "Only once or twice." She remarked.

Raven still didn't looked convinced, and said "Well I only ask because you claim to be taking me to the 'Princess of Equestria' and yet YOU are obviously an alicorn Princess." He pointed to Twilight's wings and horn.

"Just because I've almost literally been under a rock for the past three-thousand years does not mean that I don't know what a Princess looks like."

Twilight thought about this. "Well, I don't know about three-thousand years ago, but these days there can be more than one Princess at the same time." She looked back into the cage just in time to see Raven's beak slide open.

"You can't be serious!" he exclaimed in disbelief. "The last time the ponies tried that, it nearly caused a civil war!"

"When was that?" Twilight asked him, now curious because she had never read or heard of this war.

"Oh… Let me think…" Raven closed his pitch black eyes "I'd put it between four- and five-thousand years ago." He said, and looked up at Twilight again.

"So I guess you've been around the block then, huh?" Applejack asked him

"How DO you stay looking so young?" Rarity asked him.

"How are you still alive? Nopony can live THAT long!" Rainbow Dash added.

Raven looked at all of them, wondering what to say. "I…"

He looked down at the floor of his cage and refused to look up, not wanting to meet their eyes. "I don't want to talk about it." He murmured.


	9. Chapter 9 : An awkward Train ride

For the rest of the train trip Raven stayed eerily quiet, not looking up, despite many attempts from the others to get him to talk.

"I wish he'd just SAY something." Rainbow Dash quietly said to Rarity.

"I agree. I think his weird remarks were better than this dead silence." Rarity whispered back.

One slightly awkward train ride later, they arrived at Canterlot and unloaded the cage containing the still silent Raven, bringing it to the throne room. Raven looked around him, and spoke for the first time in at least four hours.

"Wow. They really have changed this place since I was here last." He said. "I like it. It used to be truly dreadful, a really cold castle full of drafts. It was terrible. And don't even get me started on the depressing decorations!"

Just then, Princess Celestia opened the large golden doors, making all of them jump. Twilight introduced Raven to Princess Celestia, and they all walked inside, a guard closing the doors behind them.

"So it was you who ordered these six ponies to capture me?" Raven asked Princess Celestia, turning his head to scrutinize her.

"Yes, it was me." said Celestia. She smiled "And you can stop pretending that that enchanted cage can stop you."

If Raven was surprised that Celestia knew that he was only pretending to be trapped, he didn't show it. Instead he bowed to Celestia, looking back and grinning at Twilight as he simply walked through the glowing gold bars of the cage as if he were no more than a misty shadow. He flapped his wings once and sat up on top of the golden cage that had never really trapped him, simply held him.


	10. Chapter 10 : In which a tuba is dented

The six ponies gasped. Twilight looked simply horrified that she had been fooled by a bird, albeit an ancient and magically powerful one.

"I don't know what you intend to do with me." Raven said. "But I must warn you that if you intend to lock me up again, you ponies will find it much harder to do this time around." Raven added, looking sternly at Celestia.

Celestia watched Raven sadly. "No, we don't intend to lock you up again, we want answers. We have very little information regarding you, and many questions we'd like answered, like what you want." She told him.

Raven looked at her, his eye swivelling up and down, trying to find hidden motives. Suddenly he laughed a loud, piercing laugh that echoed off of the large walls and into the surrounding rooms: the laugh of something with tortured emotions, something that had lost all real feelings except hatred and pain, and had even lost a bit of sanity. "Hahahaha! What I want? What I WANT? You would try to deceive me once more! You would have me believe that you actually CARED for me? Ahahahaha!" at this point he began to flap his wings in a wild, frenzied swing, kicking up dust and making his feathers fly all over the place, but never actually moving from his perch on top of the large cage. "Ah, this is priceless. You and your six, sick tricksters can stop pretending that you care! I shall not let myself be betrayed as I once was! Raaagh!"

"Thunk!"

Pinkie Pie stood over the comatose bird now lying on the carpet.

She had hit Raven over the head with a tuba.

"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight yelled

"What? It stopped him screeching, didn't it?"

"Yes but… Well… I guess..." Twilight shrugged, but still looked slightly shocked.

"Pinkie… Where did you get that?" Rainbow Dash asked in amazement.

"Oh, you mean my tuba? I'd never leave home without it." Pinkie Pie said, and blew a neat little note from her tuba to prove her point.

"Is she always like this?" Princess Celestia asked Twilight with a worried expression on her face.


	11. Chapter 11 : The lies of a Princess

While the group waited for the now unconscious Raven to wake up from his encounter with Pinkie Pie's tuba, Twilight asked her mentor a question that had arisen since their conversation with their captive:

"Raven claimed that the shadow-ravens didn't attack the ponies three-thousand years ago. I just wanted to know. He's lying, right?"

"Well, my dear student, I will give you the facts and let you draw your own conclusions… Princess Sunset Spirit wrote in her logs that it was the shadow-ravens that threw the first stone, stealing the ponies' crops and invading their territory. Raven claims that it was the ponies that started the conflict. I myself am inclined to believe Raven."

Twilight's eyes opened wide in shock.

"Why?" She asked incredulously. Her mentor and friend smiled and explained.

"Because, you see Twilight, the ponies were experiencing a period of food shortage due to a naturally occurring drought, and because the shadow-ravens had ample territory in the Everfree Forest."

Twilight thought a while before answering.

"So the ponies HAD no crops to be stolen, and the shadow-ravens wouldn't NEED to steal food or land from the ponies? If that is the case, then why did Princess Sunset Spirit lie about all this in her logs? Unless…"

Twilight frowned and Celestia's face became grave once more.

"I think you have worked out what happened, and found the dark truth for yourself, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight voiced her theory out loud.

"The ponies of the time were experiencing a drought, causing a food shortage. Getting desperate and hoping to provide food for her starving subjects, the Princess ruling at the time, Sunset Spirit, ordered that the edges of the Everfree Forest be cut down, to provide new farmland closer to the water in the forest. The shadow-ravens who lived in the trees in these parts tried to defend their territory but when they did so, the ponies retaliated, creating a full-scale conflict, which ended with the extinction of all but one shadow-raven. Then, not wanting to look so cruel in the eyes of her subjects and her successors, Princess Sunset Spirit wrote her logs, depicting the shadow-ravens to be nothing more than pests, trying to justify her actions."

Twilight finished off her theory, waiting for it to be assessed by Celestia. But she didn't need the grave nod from her mentor to know that the story she had just told was true. It all made sense, in a horrifyingly grim and logical way.

Her five friends found the story to be just as disturbing to them.

"That's just wrong!" Fluttershy had exclaimed when she heard the tale.

Rainbow Dash had pretended to be uninterested, that she didn't not to care, but Twilight knew her friends well, and Rainbow Dash was no exception. Twilight could tell that she cared, even though she tried to hide it.


	12. Chapter 12 : A new task

Raven had woken up, and this time found himself in a cage that really could contain him.

He calmed down eventually, but was extremely bitter at being in a cage once more.

After the drama that had unfolded in the throne room, Celestia took Twilight and her friends aside and thanked them for their effort, but added "I'm afraid that your task is not yet fully complete. I may have need of your special talents again shortly, if all goes well. I'd like to speak to him alone; I think I can reason with him."

It seemed like hours before Princess Celestia emerged from the throne room. She looked rather sad, but she held herself high, and came over to the six, who were waiting just outside the doors.

"So? What did you say?" Twilight asked.

"We have reached an agreement." Celestia said, and placed the cage with Raven inside, next to her.

"I have agreed to give him what he wants, which would mean giving up something I hold quite dear…" Celestia paused for a moment, then spoke on. "…if you can't become friends with each other." She said "He has given me his word to try his best and earnestly try to be friendly, and I have given my word that should you not be able to make friends, I will give him what he wants."

All of the ponies were hesitant. Twilight looked awkwardly at Celestia. "I can't become friends with him, not if he doesn't want to."

"You are the Princess of Friendship, Twilight." Celestia reminded her pupil. "And you and your friends managed to reform Discord. Raven has given me his word that he will earnestly try to make friends"

Twilight blushed, happy that her Princess had faith in her.

"Ok. We'll give it a shot." She said "Are you guys in?" she asked her friends. They smiled and all agreed. "Wonderful!"

"Great…" Raven said, sounding unimpressed. "I get to be friends with my capturers."

Celestia gave him a hard look. "Remember that if Twilight or any of her friends believe that you did not try your best, I will not give you want."


	13. Chapter 13 : What does he want?

As they were leaving Canterlot for the second time in as many days, Twilight took a moment to ask the Princess something that had been on her mind. "Princess, what IS it that Raven wants?"

Celestia shook her head "I'm afraid that Raven specifically asked me not to tell you what it is he is seeking." Twilight looked disappointed, but Celestia reassured her.

"I'm certain that you can do this, Twilight." And with those encouraging words, Twilight got onto the train and joined her friends.

The train ride was uneventful and quite dull as it was dark for most of the trip, and so everypony caught up on some much needed sleep. Raven stayed awake.

He tried, whenever he could, not to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14 : Home sweet home

The first dilemma they faced when they reached Ponyville was the problem of lodging. As nopony in the group was especially keen to have an injured and frankly scary-looking magical Shadow-Raven in their homes, they argued about where they would keep him. Raven found the situation to be awkward and uncomfortable.

"I don't want to be a problem" Raven said, unable to hide the discomfort in his voice.

"Fluttershy…" Twilight tried to reason "…you're the best with animals, so you should keep him at your cottage."

"Oh, but…" Fluttershy looked uncomfortably from Twilight to the cage. "…Oh my… What if he scares away all the other animals?"

"What about the boutique, Rarity? He could stay there." Fluttershy looked over at Rarity.

"Wh-what? Are you suggesting that I put that dilapidated old bird next to my dresses? He'd drive all my customers away!"

"Hey! I'm right here, could you at least TRY to be polit- Oh never mind." Raven glared at Rarity.

"What about you, Pinkie?" Rarity asked, trying to avoid looking at Raven.

"I'd looove to have a guest over! I'll throw a welcome to ponyville party and we'll have…"

Pinkie Pie was just getting excited when Raven spoke up:

"I don't want to be mean or hold a grudge or anything, but you hit me over the head with a tuba! I don't think I'd be comfortable sharing your house with you."

After a long discussion, it was finally decided that Raven would have to stay in Twilight's castle. His cage was deposited in a room of his own and he was given a few hours of time alone while the friends went out to get something to eat and to discuss their situation.

Meanwhile, Spike was hard at work, trying to keep the crystalline castle clean. He was moving from room to room, cleaning and tidying up, polishing the crystal surfaces as he went. He walked into the room where Raven was being kept, saw the cage and was about to put it on a shelf to one side when…

"Oh, hello. I didn't hear you come in. Who might you be?"

Twilight had forgotten to mention to Spike that they had a houseguest, and so Raven's sudden sentence and his dark voice had an electrifying effect on the poor dragon, he yelled, dropped the cage and fell over backwards.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you? Seems like that's all I do to others." Raven remarked, sadly.

"Oh, it's fine" Spike said, dusting himself off. "So who are you, and wh-?"

Spike never finished this sentence as it was then that he had looked up and seen Raven properly, injuries and all. He ran screaming from the room.

"Well that was awkward." Raven thought to himself as Spike's hurried footsteps grew fainter. "I wonder if that's how all friendships start?"


	15. Chapter 15 : In time, we progress

After being introduced to Raven properly, Spike and Raven got along surprisingly well, often talking of things the ponies did that they found funny or strange. ("Why do they walk on four legs? It's hilarious!" "Have you seen what they eat?" "You would never catch me wearing 'clothes'!")

It took a long time for Raven to get used to the way the ponies lived and did things, but he gradually acclimatised. He blended in with their society and day-to-day life, despite the fact that he was in a cage. The six friends still didn't think it wise to let him loose in Ponyville. He still had much to learn.

But even so, he still felt a bond forming. For the first time in thousands of years, he cared about something. Raven had become fond of the ponies he had once resented for locking him up.

He was especially fond of Twilight, as he spent most of his time in her company, each learning from the other as they pored over books and manuscripts. But he also spent time with the other ponies, and learned to enjoy various pastimes he had never considered fun before. He realized cared about these ponies and this dragon, even if they seemed strange to him, and this not only reflected in his mood, but in his appearance.

One morning Spike came into Raven's room to carry him down to breakfast, and was astonished to see that Raven had, not only both his eyes, but that his feathers looked healthier and more well-groomed and no injuries were to be seen on him.

When questioned about this in a letter, Celestia replied, explaining to Twilight that Raven's magic was based on emotions and that when he was feeling happier he would look healthier and his magic would be more controllable.


	16. Chapter 16 : Disaster strikes

A full four months later, Spike and Raven were alone in the castle, as Twilight and the others had offered to help Rarity at the boutique with another large order of dresses. Spike was cleaning up after the previous night's festivities ("A party! Because… Why not?!" As Pinkie Pie had so eloquently put it.)

Raven was deep in thought, pondering. Perhaps what he had requested of Princess Celestia all those weeks ago in the Palace, in Canterlot wasn't what he needed after all… Maybe it wasn't what he wanted. Perhaps she had been right. "Make some friends" she had said. Perhaps she had been right all along. All he really wanted now was to be reassured that these ponies cared for him as much as he cared for them.

He decided. That was it. Today was the day. He'd ask all six of those ponies to be his friends. And he'd ask Spike, too.

Perhaps they could go to the fields outside Ponyville for a picnic, just to celebrate. He liked the fields. They were large, open areas where you could see far away into the distance, and you felt free. Free of burdens and of stress. Free from those little aches and pains you get from staying in a cramped place too long.

"Hey, Spike?" he called out, hoping Spike hadn't fallen asleep, as it would be near impossible to wake him up again.

"Hey, what's up?" Spike replied, walking up to the cage.

"I just thought you might have fallen asleep again" Raven laughed.

"I didn't fall asleep, I was just resting my eyes!" the dragon retorted, but he laughed all the same.

"I was just thinking we could go check up on the others, I have something to tell them." Raven said.

"That sounds good to me" Spike said, grabbing the cage by the handle and walking to the exit. "I just finished cleaning up anyway."

Spike walked towards the boutique, and they both talked. Raven was telling the young dragon of the dragons that were around before he had been imprisoned.

"…and they had a terrible temper. The ponies of the time had their work cut out for them, stopping towns and villages from being destroyed…"

They were nearing the boutique, but just as Spike was about to open the door, Raven whispered to him

"Wait…"

"What?"

"Keep your voice down… Quick, let's get out of sight!"

And then Spike could hear why Raven was asking him to sneak around. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all inside the boutique, and were all working hard on various tasks. But as they worked, they were talking. And what they were saying was not meant to be heard by others.

"I don't trust him, not one little bit!" Applejack said.

There were murmurs of agreement amongst the group. Spike didn't like spying on his friends, but he couldn't help it, he could only hope that nothing they said would upset Raven.

"He thinks he's so cool with his 'shadow magic'." Rainbow Dash joined in.

"He's such a party pooper, he never looks happy." Pinkie Pie pointed out.

"And those colours! It's enough to sadden any mood!" Rarity shook her head.

Fluttershy nodded. "And he's still so scary. I don't like him."

Twilight sighed

"I know that Raven's not very pleasant to be around, and I don't like him any more than you do but remember that Princess Celestia is counting on us."

Twilight Sparkle, whom Raven had always liked most out of all of them, whom he had come to trust and respect... He could scarcely believe what he was hearing.

They carried on talking but Spike had inched silently away from the boutique, and they could not hear the rest of the conversation.

Raven hadn't moved in the caged since they'd overheard the ponies talking, and Spike was worried about him, he felt sorry for him.

"Raven? Raven, are you ok?"

Raven's head drooped. He was shivering. His feathers were decaying, falling off in clumps, revealing new injuries. A large cut over Raven's chest revealed that his heart was missing a large chunk, but kept beating all the same. Raven's skull became visible once again as more feathers fell from his face and one eye shrivelled and disappeared entirely. His beak lost its sheen and his one remaining eye lost its glow, becoming sunken and lifeless.

"Raven! I'm sure they… Well…"

Spike was sad, but he was scared, too.

He looked at the decayed bird, despite the fact that the very sight of Raven made him feel sick. Like a train wreck or a dead body pulls the eyes and interest of all who see it, Raven's injuries forced Spike to look at him, horrible as he was.

He was crying.

A single tear, blacker than a starless, moonless, everlasting and frozen night, and chilled with the frustration, pain and sadness of a being so lonely, fell to the floor of the cage.

It made a hissing sound when it touched the metal of the cage. The hatred, anguish, pain and sadness that burned inside it were eating away at the very magic that held Raven captive inside.

When it had eaten its way through the magic and metal itself, the enchantments and spells cast upon the cage were broken. Raven swiped his wings, commanding his magic, cutting through the golden bars as though they were but paper.

He was free… But he held no joy in this freedom.

The cage cut in half, Raven stepped forward, towards the boutique.

He lifted his wings. His magic obeyed him, prepared to obliterate the boutique and everything inside it. His one remaining eye twitched, glowed a dark red.

"No! Stop!" Spike ran in-between Raven and the boutique which had his friends inside.

Raven paused. He looked at Spike, who was sobbing. There was a long pause.

"I'm sorry." Raven sighed at last. "At least you have friends."

Suddenly he brought his wings down, and Spike covered his eyes and shouted a loud but short scream.

Spike opened his eyes. There was the boutique, undamaged. Twilight was coming out to see who had screamed.

The cage was still there, sliced in half. And there, in the grass where Raven's tear had landed, a single flower had sprouted, small and black as the tear that had grown it.

But Raven was nowhere to be found.


	17. Chapter 17 : Flight through a storm

He had flown to Canterlot, to get what was his.

Friendship. Hah! What a laugh. Ponies were afraid of him. That's all they were good for. Being scared, hating and betraying. That's all they'd ever done to him, and all they would ever do.

There had once been ponies who had also claimed to be his friends. They had betrayed him, too. They had locked him up and cursed him. But not this time. He had found something so powerful that they would never be able to lock him up again, and nothing would ever be able to hurt him again.

He flapped his wings, and used his magic to help propel him through the clouds of the night. As he flew through a sky without light, he sang himself a song:

" _The sun is setting_

 _Forever to sleep._

 _Laid to rest_

 _In the meadow, deep_."

He drew a breath from the stormy air, and carried on.

" _Always to fall_

 _Never to rise._

 _Once hot, now cold_

 _We close our eyes._

 _The sun has set_

 _The light has gone_

 _But in perpetual darkness_

 _I live on…_

 _Betrayed, unwanted_

 _Left to weep._

 _Out in the darkness,_

 _The shadows creep._

 _They can't see me._

 _They don't know._

 _But in the darkness_

 _My power will grow._ "

At this point the storm clouds burst forth, raining down upon the land, and soaking Raven, quite literally, to the bone.

 _"They can't stop me,_

 _For now, I sleep_

 _Forever lost_

 _In the meadow, deep."_


	18. Chapter 18 : I gave him what he wanted

Spike had told Twilight what had happened and what they had overheard, and Twilight had searched, looking for Raven for hours before Celestia wrote to her.

In her letter Celestia thanked Twilight and her friends once again for their help, saying that they had done a good job, but that they wouldn't always succeed.

Twilight replied to Celestia's letter asking her what had happened, and if she knew where Raven was.

Celestia informed her that Raven had returned to her a few hours ago, stating that, although they had tried, they could not be friends, and that friendship was worthless to him. He wanted what Celestia had promised him and she had then given him what he desired.

Twilight became anxious and went to visit Princess Celestia, to ask her where Raven was, and what he had done. She wanted to apologize to him for what she and her friends had said, and to ask the Princess what it was that she had given to Raven. Celestia answered her.

"I gave him what he has always wanted since he watched his kind being treated as pests, driven away and killed. Since he was so badly treated by ponies everywhere."

"What is it?"

"Death." Celestia said with a grave look.

Twilight looked shocked and shook her head "But… I don't understand."

"He was immortal. He could not die, not even by great injury. He had been cursed by the ponies who imprisoned him, cursed to live forever in isolation and darkness, to experience nightmares the likes of which even my sister Luna feared and could not defeat. But he knew that the reigning Princess of Equestria could give him mortality and break that ancient curse."

"But you said that if you gave him what he wants, you would have to lose something that you hold dear."

"I did lose something that I held dear. When I gave him mortality, I guessed what he would do: end his own existence, and I could do nothing to stop him. He was not a mere creature, but the last of a great and magical race that now no longer exists. He was precious to me, in strange a way, and now he is gone."


	19. Chapter 19 : The meadows deep

_"They can't stop me,_

 _For now, I sleep_

 _Forever lost_

 _In the meadow, deep."_

 _Thank you for reading!_


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